Sword in the Air
© Copyright 10-17-08 by 45 Mike
“Look! There it is!”
In Western Montana, on a hilltop there is a sword, suspended in air.
Local people told of a strange man. He ran laughing up the hill during a thunderstorm. On that spot, he drew his sword, raised it and screamed defiance at the universe.
The universe answered. A bolt of lightning struck him for several seconds. The thunder crashed. He was gone.
The sword remained.
People began arriving to witness the sword in the air.
Today was different, one of the people arriving today was named Steve Berbott.
Steve was not a nice person.
When Steve was 14 he had pushed his nine year old brother off of the water tower. Steve lied, he enjoyed knowing he could kill anyone.
Steve was looking forward to killing Meigha, a pretty girl.
Meigha looked up. She could see the sword, and at intervals people would reach up and touch it. Some would try to pull it down.
Meigha watched as a small boy was lifted to hang from the cross guard.
Steve appeared puzzled.
Meigha looked up. The sword had lowered. The child and others stared in stupefied silence.
The sword was moving! As people began moving away from the sword it became obvious the sword was coming down the hill.
Meigha edged away from the path the sword traveled. Steve was going closer and had her hand.
Meigha noticed how the sword moved as if someone were actually carrying it, as she was pulling away from Steve.
The sword moved faster, several people jostled each other to move further from the rushing sword.
Steve apparently decided that he was directly in the path and he stepped aside. The sword rushed towards him and he stepped again. Then again, and again.
The sword raised, and swung itself down at Steve.
Meigha watched in horror as Steve flailed his hands out to stop the sword. His hands were bleeding as the blade swung up and down again. Steve’s hands were not fast enough to ward his neck. Steve appeared unbelieving as the chopping strike landed.
The sword retreated momentarily as Steve fell to his knees, holding his lacerated neck and shoulder.
Meigha could see Steve beginning to take a breath. She was certain he was about to scream. Several people were beginning to scream.
The sword plunged into Steve’s chest, then withdrew.
Steve fell, and died without screaming, his last breath escaping, burbling from his chest wound.
Meigha stood in shock as the onslaught of noise reached her from the people gathered on the hillside.
The sword raised, point up, as it had been at the top of the hill, the hilts about seven feet from the ground. Now however it seemed to stand guard over the body of Steve.
Blood ran down the blade as it hung there.
Meigha screamed then, as the sword began to hum, a low pitch. The hum increased in volume and smoke began appearing along the edges of the blade. Within moments the bright metal, stained with blood became cherry red with heat.
The hum stopped. The blade cooled rapidly. Now there were small tinking noises. The sword was clean, bright without stain.
Meigha turned and ran down the hill. Most people got out of her way. A few reached out for her, but she avoided their grasp. Meigha reached Steve’s car. Then stopped. Steve had the keys in his pocket. She was stuck here, in this frightening place.
Meigha had noticed some policemen when she had arrived. Many people were getting in cars and leaving. The police were trying to stop some people.
Meigha turned away from the car, tears streaming down her face, blurring her vision. She heard the noise from the people change. She looked up the hill and wiped her eyes clear. The sword had moved again.
Point down now, it moved down the hill. Panicked people were running now.
Meigha sobbed as the sword approached her. She slumped down with her back to the car, as the sword stopped just a few feet from her. Stopped and stayed, as if waiting.
Two policemen had noticed this and moved to approach her and the sword. When they were within a few feet of the sword, Meigha had collapsed entirely, her body half under the car, huddled and incoherent in fright.
The sword hung there, it’s point angled back away from Meigha, and about a foot above the ground. It had moved marginally closer to the car, as Meigha had been trying to claw her way to escape under the car.
One of the policemen moved to the other side of the car, to see if he could get the girl out that way. The other slowly and carefully approached the sword, hoping in some way to prevent the sword from injuring the pretty dark haired girl half under the car.
Eerily, without noise or warning, the sword tip raised. Suddenly the point was within inches of the policeman. He sucked in breath and backed away a step. The tip of the sword lowered.
“Holy Crap!” he exclaimed, “Did you see that?”
“Yeah, I did. Back off a little more, let’s see what happens.”
Jim, the policeman who was happy to back off a step, let out his breath slowly. The sword took up it’s former position, close to Meigha.
The other policeman, Sam, watched. “Looks like we just need to maintain some space here. Hang tight there Jim, I’m going to see if I can get her out from this side.”
Sam stooped down and peered under the car. He could see the girl, the sword tip, and Jim’s feet. Sam could see that unless the car could be lifted, the girl would not be able to be rescued from this side.
“Jim,” Sam said, “this side is no good. There is no clearance here.” Sam could hear Meigha gasping and sobbing, he tried to soothe her. “Miss, I am a policeman, we are going to get you out of here, do you understand me? Can you hear me?”
Meigha turned her face, “Help me please, Oh God, I don’t want to die! What is it doing?”
Jim said, “Miss, the sword is not moving now. I’m not sure, but it seems to be guarding you. When I got close to you, it started moving at me.”
Sobbing Meigha cried, “Why me? I didn’t do anything! Why did it kill Steve?”
The two policemen looked at each other, “His name was Steve? The man who was killed? Did you know him?”
Several people had gathered closer, some few were policemen, and one was a female. She stood by Sam.
“We need to get her out from under this car, right?” she asked.
Sam replied, “Yes, I think so. I’d like to get her out from this side, away from that thing, but I don’t think we can. Not enough room.”
“Miss, can you hear me? My name is Tanya, I am a police woman.” Meigha looked out and saw a woman crouched down on the other side of the car. “What is your name?”
“Meigha Thompson”
“Ok, Meigha, we are looking at options to get you safely out of there. We’d like you to stay still, I know it’s hard, and you are scared. We are here with you and we’ll do everything we can for you. do you understand me?”
Meigha could hear people talking, and police radios nearby, she closed her eyes. “Yes, I understand, I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do.”
Tanya reached out, “You can hold my hand, ok?”
Meigha reached towards the hand, and her fingers clutched at the human contact.
Jim Looked around, he was the man closest to the sword. “Look, let’s try something, I’m going to get a little closer. If that thing comes at me, then someone else can try to get the girl out.”
Sam said, “I don’t know, Jim. Right now the situation seems stable. I’d rather not do anything to risk the girl any further. Let’s stop here and talk about this, maybe we could dig her out from this side. Maybe if we got enough people we could lift the car enough to get her out.”
Jim and Sam looked around, there were about 20 or more men fairly close, some were policemen, others had heard what Sam had suggested and moved closer.
Sam looked at Jim, “Well let’s try a few men at the front and back, to see if we can get close enough to do this.”
Jim nodded, “Yeah, I agree.” Then he said to the few men who were positioning themselves towards the front and back of the car, “Move slowly, just one at a time, don’t try to lift yet, just see if we can get close enough and get a grip.”
Tanya’s hand tightened briefly reassuringly, “Guys, you want to think about this, if you do get the car lifted, and we start pulling Meigha out this side, what are you going to do if that sword starts chopping at you? Are you going to drop the car on her?”
The men stopped.
Meigha moaned. “Please, someone tell me what that thing is doing!”
Jim said easily, “Meigha, the sword is not moving. It is just staying where it is.”
Meigha looked pleadingly at Tanya, her tear streaked face screwed up in fright, but no longer panicked.
“It’s ok, honey” Tanya said, “we’ll think of something.”
“It’s not moving? Like it’s waiting?” Meigha asked.
Jim replied, “That’s right it’s not moving. What are you thinking Meigha?”
Tanya looked at Meigha, saw a resolve appearing in her eyes. “Are you sure you want to try that?”
Meigha pulled her hand away. “Yes.” she whispered, then louder, “I’m coming out, just please let me know if it starts moving. OK?”
“Meigha, wait, just hold up for a few moments, we need to talk about this.” Jim said, and to the men gathered round, “Can anyone think of any way to protect her if that thing starts going after her again?”
Meigha was not waiting, she closed her eyes and held her breath. She clenched her fists and began backing out. Meigha felt sunshine on her face and opened her eyes.
“Stop, it’s moving!” Jim yelled.
Meigha froze, she could see the sword herself now, and it seemed motionless to her.
Jim hesitated, “It looked as if it was moving away from you, just a bit, but it stopped again when you quit moving.”
Jim glanced away from the sword and noticed that Meigha was clearly frightened, but was beginning to be angry also. Her expression was quite attractive, he tore his eyes away and stared at the blade.
Tanya had gotten up and was now at the front of the car, reaching out to the girl. “Meigha, slowly now, come on, let’s try to get you out of here.”
Tanya’s eyes watched the sword intently flicking back and forth to the dark eyed girl.
Meigha crabbed forward.
“Stop!” several people said at once. The sword had moved again, just slightly, but then stopped, again when Meigha stopped.
Meigha looked back at the sword again, it was still there, and not moving.
Tanya said, “Easy baby, it moved a little when you did, but it stopped again, come on, take my hand.”
Meigha reached out. Her eyes glued to Tanya’s tensely smiling face. “Please, don’t let it kill me, I don’t want to die.”
“I’ve got you Meigha,” Tanya said as her hand grasped and held her hand.
Meigha stood up slowly. She could hear breathing stopped from the men around her. She froze again.
“It moved.” Jim said, “And stopped again.”
Meigha looked around, yes it had moved. The sword had taken position very close to her, the crossguard almost touching her left hip, blade angled back, as if it were in a scabbard she wore on a belt at her side.
Meigha moaned, “What should I do?”
Tanya looked very perplexed. “Meigha, stay very still. I’m going to come closer to you.” Tanya was stretched nearly the length of the car hood, holding Meigha’s hand. She slid slowly around the bumper. Tanya stopped when her body was fully exposed, no longer was the car between the two women.
The sword had not moved in the slightest.
Tanya, the men, and Meigha breathed easier, a collective sigh. “OK, that was scary, but it seems to me that that thing may not be threatening you at all.”
Jim said, half seriously, “Maybe it doesn’t like men.”
Tanya lashed out, “This is NOT funny Jim, that thing is dangerous! You saw what it did to that guy up there.”
Sam said, “Hold on Tanya, Jim may have a point, it does not look to be a problem with you two women. So far it has only been a problem for us guys. What do you think Jim? Want to test that out?”
“Not really.” said Jim darkly, “But I suppose we should find out for sure.” He eyed the blade apprehensively. Then he took a step towards Meigha and Tanya. The sword seemed unperturbed, it’s only motion was matching Meigha’s half turn towards Jim.
Some people started backing away, Jim continued his slow approach. Shortly he was standing close to the women. The sword had made no move on it’s own.
Within minutes, the police had gathered closer, experimentation had shown that the sword had fairly attached itself to Meigha. Jim had even gone so far as to grip the hilts, in an attempt to take it, but could not budge it in the slightest. When Meigha moved, the sword followed her movements smoothly.
Soon there was a determination that they should take Meigha off of the hill. One of the police had commandeered a video camera and was photographing events. When Meigha got into the back seat of a police car, the sword deftly followed her as before, and neatly positioned itself alongside her.
Once they had her in the police station, it was discovered that she could handle the sword herself, as if it was no more than it seemed. No one else could move it even the slightest.
Within days, witnesses, and photographic evidence were collected and Meigha was told that she could leave custody. No one quite knew what do do with the situation. No charges were filed.
Tanya volunteered to stay with Meigha for a time, in a local motel. Meigha did not want to be hounded by the media, clamoring for more news coverage of the incident.
People from several federal agencies arrived, they spoke with Meigha, and amongst themselves. There was an offer to take Meigha to a secure, and secluded location. She agreed. The media was unruly and insistent. Meigha became even more frightened by their attention than the sword.
Within a few months Meigha was able to move about more freely, she wore long jackets. She could not leave the sword, it would not allow itself to be left. One Motel door had been destroyed in proving that.
One day Meigha sat watching TV. Her phone rang. Tanya was calling with some information about Steve.
Meigha was horrified as Tanya described the theory that investigation had uncovered about the man she had met only days before his death.
Once his life was investigated, it became clear that Steve had been a serial killer, his movements and activities tracked closely to cases involving murdered women across the country.
Several months later, Meigha walked alone along a sidewalk bordering a beach on a lakeside. It was not crowded, being the off season, but there were people about.
The sword, which in all this time had not left her immediate vicinity, suddenly leapt from under her jacket and streaked up the sidewalk. A man, walking away from her stopped when the sword positioned itself in front of him. The sword point at his chest.
“NOOOOO!” Meigha screamed. She could not bear to look, the man began backing up. The sword followed. The tip was patiently herding the man, back, back.
Meigha watched as the man stopped by her side. He looked puzzled and frightened. When he looked at Meigha, he seemed to recognize her. Her picture of course in the news, and that sword.
The sword retreated a few feet. People stared. Meigha was embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, it has never done that before!”
The man looked at her, he was dressed in jeans, boots and a long jacket.
The man slowly opened his jacket. “I didn’t even have a chance,” he said as he drew a sword from a scabbard hidden under his coat, “to draw my own blade.”
Meigha stood, dumbstruck, in silence as the man hefted his blade and took a step forward.
Her blade flashed forward, then stopped. Her sword tip raised, then with almost a caressing move, tapped the mans blade gently. In the crisp winter air, the noise was like a single musical note.
The man advanced, poised for an attack.
Meigha watched as her sword streaked away, straight up into the sky.